Using the Roadmap

How should you use this resource?

Welcome to RoPA!

Whether you’re a librarian with years of experience, or a community member just starting out, RoPA can guide you through the process of planning inclusive, engaging participatory archiving events and creating digital collections in collaboration with community members.

RoPA is organized into stand-alone modules that are linked together to cover the whole participatory archiving process. The beauty of the Roadmap is that you can follow the RoPA modules in order to host an event and create a collection or you can choose the “on-ramps” and “exits” based on the goals of your project and the skills of your Project Team members. 

After the Getting Started section, each module in the Community, Event, and Collection sections of the Roadmap features an introductory video and a list of Roles and Responsibilities. Steps to Success are the detailed instructions for what to do before, during, and after the event, and they include printable handouts and instructional videos. A Quick Checklist summarizes these steps. Best Practice Examples highlight successful case studies from other participatory archiving events, while the Glossary and Resources sections allow for in-depth understanding and further exploration.

The RoPA Developers recommend reading through the entire site before hitting the road. It is important to get a big picture sense of the many elements of work involved in planning and producing an event and creating an online collection. Throughout the site, there are connecting links where modules overlap or intersect. In addition, a search feature is located at the top right of each page of each module if you are seeking specific information. 

The Roadmap is organized into four overarching sections of modules: Getting Started, Community, Event, and Collection. To see a full list of the modules, visit the Roadmap page.

  • The Getting Started section provides an overview of who is needed on the Project Team and how long it will take to plan and produce the event as well as process the new collection. 

  • The Community modules outline how to implement an inclusive, community-engaged planning process, choose a theme for your event, and spread the word to participants.

  • The Event modules explain how to organize a successful event using multiple stations: the Welcome Station to record permissions; the Information Station to gather information about Items; and the Copying Station to create archival quality copies of Items. These modules provide details about documentation, copyright, equipment, and the general logistics you’ll need to address.

  • The Collection modules explain how to establish an accessible home for the digital collection and safeguard it for the future. These modules also cover approaches to publicizing the new collection and interpreting it to the general public.

Sharing Files with your Project Team

Once you familiarize yourself with the website, the RoPA Developers recommend establishing a shared file system for your Project Team. This will allow all Project Team members to collaborate and access files and information regardless of their organizational or community affiliation. This downloadable folder structure mirrors the RoPA set up of modules and can be used with Google Drive, DropBox, or another file sharing site.

To copy this folder structure to your own hard drive, simply download the zipped file and right-click or double-click on the zipped folder to view the folder structure. Copy and paste the folder structure onto your shared drive and change the “event-name” to match the name of your participatory archiving event.

Our hope is that RoPA enables your library and your community to work together on creating an engaging event and a rich, unique collection. 

Still have questions? Let us know!

Reproducing and Adapting RoPA Tools and Resources

RoPA tools, resources, workflows, and handouts are designed to be repurposed, adapted, and modified to suit the needs of different projects. If you use or adapt RoPA tools and resources for your project, we would appreciate it if you were to acknowledge the use of RoPA in whatever way feels appropriate and that you let us know about your project by contacting us.

Roadmap for Participatory Archiving (RoPA) by University of Massachusetts Boston is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0